Jean Besancenot, (; 24 September 1902 – 27 July 1992), born as Jean Girard, was a French painter, documentary photographer, and self-trained ethnographer, active mainly during the 1930s and 1940s in the French protectorate in Morocco.
He is mainly known for his illustrated book Costumes du Maroc with ethnographic information and portrait paintings of Moroccans in traditional costumes and other personal adornment, published first in French in 1942. The first ethnographic information on Moroccan fashion, it has been called an "iconic" work of lasting influence on traditional Moroccan garments and how they were worn. Besides several editions in French, an English translation, Costumes of Morocco, was published in 1990. By 1953, when he published his second major work about select pieces of jewellery in Morocco, Bijoux arabes et berbères du Maroc, he had become Head of the Iconographic Service of the Moroccan Office of Information.
His work, composed of detailed descriptions, numerous black-and-white photographs, films, drawings and paintings, testifies to the history and aesthetics of Moroccan cultural heritage of the 1930s and 1940s, still little marked by Western influences. Because of ongoing reproductions and alterations in publications, by art galleries and fashion designers, his photos and paintings have been called "a form of public domain media for 'traditional' Moroccan dress".
Biography
Besancenot was born as Jean Girard on 24 September 1902 in Estrées-Saint-Denis of northern France. After his studies at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, he started his career as a painter with an interest in French regional folk costumes.
Commissioned by the administration of the French protectorate in Morocco, he collected ethnographic observations and records of traditional dress and lifestyles during his extensive travels in this country on three visits between 1934 and 1939, as well as during a longer stay between 1940 and 1945. In a small Ford automobile, he journeyed to remote parts of the country, travelling by donkey back in the more remote regions. Although having been warned about the general and gender-specific difficulties of approaching Moroccan people and studying the dress and jewellery of women as a foreigner, his obvious success was attributed to his friendly and sensitive approach. On some of his trips, he was accompanied by his wife, which made access to the world of women easier. At times he managed to gain the support of a communal leader (caïd), who allowed him to take pictures of his wife and children dressed in the traditional way. During his prolonged stay in the medina of Salé between 1940 and 1943, he established close relations with Jewish families in the mellah (Jewish quarter) whose daughters agreed to pose in traditional dress.
In 1945, Besancenot undertook a field trip to the southwestern regions, where he felt like one of the first Frenchmen ever to have visited these regions. During his visits in the Tafilalet, the valleys of the Draa, Dadès and Todgha, in the Anti-Atlas and the Sous region, he completed his earlier studies and took additional notes and photographs. Some of his travel was in remote Jewish Berber communities, which prompted his remark about the small town of Tissint: "I had in front of me a group of human beings who were leading exactly the same kind of life as their ancestors 2000 years ago."
Ethnographic and artistic works
Besancenot first became known for his artistic illustrations and detailed descriptions of traditional folk costumes and other forms of personal adornment, including the jewellery of the Berber cultures in Morocco.
Costumes et types du Maroc (1942)
For his illustrated book Costumes du Maroc (1942), he identified three basic categories of costumes: rural Berber dress, Jewish dress and urban citizens' costumes, some of which showing influences from Arab culture. Moreover, each of the portraits of his 60 gouache paintings was attributed to a specific social role (married woman, palace guard, musician etc.), city or region, and Berber dress also assigned to corresponding tribal groups. His artistic portraits on a white background show more women than men (43 and 17 respectively), most of them in elaborate dress that the author found "the most beautiful or at least most representative".